Expanding treatment options for Cushing's disease

Contact: Karen Honey 
press_releases@the-jci.org 
734-546-5242 
Journal of Clinical Investigation

Expanding treatment options for Cushing disease

Cushing disease is a hormone disorder that causes a diverse array of symptoms, including fat accumulation, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, muscle wasting, and ultimately death. It is caused by a tumor in the anterior pituitary gland that results in the secretion of excess amounts of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). Treatment options are essentially limited to surgical resection.

However, tumors commonly recur, meaning that new treatment options are needed. A team of researchers, led by Shlomo Melmed, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, has now identified a potential new therapeutic target -- the protein EGFR, which is the target of a drug used to treat some patients with non–small cell lung cancer (gefitinib).

As discussed by Melmed and colleagues in their paper, as well as Frederic Wondisford, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, in an accompanying commentary, the data generated in human, canine, and mouse models provide strong support to investigate the clinical effects of gefitinib in patients with Cushing disease.

TITLE: EGFR as a therapeutic target for human, canine, and mouse ACTH-secreting pituitary adenomas

AUTHOR CONTACT:

Shlomo Melmed

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Phone: 310-423-4691; Fax: 310-423-0119; E-mail: Melmed@csmc.edu.

ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY TITLE: A new medical therapy for Cushing disease?

 

AUTHOR CONTACT:

Fredric E. Wondisford

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Phone: 410-502-5761; Fax 410-502-5779; E-mail: fwondisford@jhmi.edu.

More Treatments for Cushing’s Disease

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Cushing’s disease is a hormone disorder that causes many symptoms, such as high blood pressure, fat accumulation, osteoporosis and ultimately ending in death. It is caused by a tumor in the anterior pituitary gland that secretes excess amounts of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH). The only treatment is removal of the tumor, however, researchers have found a new treatment for these reoccurring tumors.

Researchers, led by Shlomo Melmed, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, have now identified a potential new therapeutic target -- the protein EGFR, which is the target of a drug used to treat some patients with non–small cell lung cancer (gefitinib). As discussed by Melmed and colleagues in their paper, as well as Frederic Wondisford, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, in an accompanying commentary, the data generated in human, canine, and mouse models provide strong support to investigate the clinical effects of gefitinib in patients with Cushing disease.

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Investigation, published online November 21, 2011

From http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=28468